Stefanik slams Obama on guns, lays out 2016 priorities

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY21) has blasted President Barack Obama’s executive action on gun control, calling it an example of executive overreach. She’s pictured here at a town hall meeting in Essex on Aug. 1, 2015.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY21) is not a fan of President Barack Obama’s executive order on gun control, which he announced last week.

The first-term congresswoman blasted the president, calling his actions an “unconstitutional executive overreach.”

“Once again, this president is circumventing Congress. Instead of legislating, he should be working with Congress,” said Stefanik in a phone interview.

Following a series of high profile shooting incidents, the president formally rolled out the actions in a tearful address last week, arguing Congress had failed to act on a national “sense of urgency.”

The actions include tightening up background checks on all gun sellers, adding more ATF agents to enforce existing gun laws and ending the freeze on federally-funded gun research.

Obama also called for Congress to invest $500 million to increase access to mental health care by increasing service capacity and the behavioral health workforce.

Stefanik said she’s been working on legislation with Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA18) supporting mental health reform, which she called a bipartisan issue.

Murphy’s bill, which passed the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health last November, includes provisions to make it easier for judges to mandate outpatient treatment and for caregivers to access the mental health treatment plans for violent patients.

The bill, which has Democratic support, also addresses a shortage of inpatient beds for psychiatric patients, reauthorizes a suicide-prevention program, improves coordination between government agencies that serve the mentally ill and creates a grant program school services for kids with emotional problems.

“We’re likely to see action early this year,” Stefanik said. “I’m hopeful it will move forward in the coming weeks and months.”

Stefanik stopped short of endorsing any other forms of gun control.

“Mental health is a bipartisan issue,” Stefanik said.

In an interview to discuss her first year in office, the freshman lawmaker also sounded off on a number of issues.

On bridging the bipartisan gap in an era of increased polarization, Stefanik said it’s “incredibly important” for candidates to put forth a forward-looking view of optimism.

Leading by example is important, said Stefanik, citing her work on legislation passed last year, including the multi-year highway bill, the Student Success Act and the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act.

“I think in my first year, I’ve demonstrated that,” said Stefanik, circling back to the president.

“One of the weaknesses of this presidency and this administration is President Obama has been ineffective at reaching out to Congress in both parties and we’ve seen this again and again on a number of issues,” said Stefanik.

At the federal level, priorities for the rep this year include tax and regulatory reform — these measures will aid in job creation, said the lawmaker — and additional reforms to the Affordable Care Act, including offering a replacement plan and repealing the medical device tax, which Stefanik says harms manufacturers in the district.

Stefanik said she is continuing to hear feedback from constituents on the rise in premium prices and deductibles.

Stefanik said she will work with state reps to ensure movement continues on those measures and that her office will take the lead at the federal level.

The rep also said she was proud of her work with Millennials — Stefanik chaired three hearings last year to highlight policy issues facing the group — as well as her efforts to be transparent and communicative with her constituents, including posting votes on social media and a series of town halls across the expansive district.

Stefanik, who was elected in Nov. 2014, faces a challenge this year from Democrat Mike Derrick, a retired Army colonel.

“I’m focused on doing my job,” Stefanik said when asked about her opponent. “We’re getting tremendous positive feedback from Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives and independents. I have been a proven energetic leader in Congress on behalf of the district, putting my district before partisan politics, and I’m going to continue doing my job.”

Stefanik remained similarly tight-lipped on the GOP presidential race.

“The breadth of the Republican field is a strength, but I am not endorsing a candidate at this point. Now that I have the first year under my belt, I’m continuing to work to do the best I can on behalf of this district.”

Comments (3)

mental health and guns

I am so proud of your stance against our President! You are a courageous legislator!

James Foxmore than 1 year ago

Right on Elise

If the US were a company, and it had a problem, someone would look at the problem, find the "Root Cause" of it, brainstorm some likely solutions, and try them one at a time until the problem was fixed. The US is not a company. Our executive does none of that. He and his advisers only have one solution to anything that remotely looks like a gun. Make it hard to get, hard to load, and hard to fire. When 5 criminals attack a woman in a school playground in Brooklyn, her fathers option was to run away. If you are a dad, put yourself in his place. Is that the only option you want to have? We the people built this country to protect ourselves and our families from our enemies, domestic and foreign, That's our main job. Thousands of our countrymen and woman have died for that right.To allow some politician who himself is and will always be surrounded by armed men to protect him and his family to take that ability away from us, we the people, is unconscionable. Forget the politics, put yourself and your daughter in a playground in Brooklyn as the 5 thugs advance on you both, what do you want your options to be?..

Fred V Provonchamore than 2 years ago

Congressional Action

And what exactly, pray tell, has Congress done on this subject that would encourage the President to not take action while having confidence that Congress will adequately address the issue with any actual action, not just words? The Congresswoman speaks of developing bills, etc. but what have they actually passed to help save any lives? Nothing that I am aware of. A member of a do nothing Congress should be a little more hesitant to criticize actual action until it has done something.